Maverick gears up with new design sprint cooperation

​Sigma IT's digital full-service agency Maverick has been challenging traditional customer relationships and static business models ever since its inception 10 years ago. Now the agency is taking another guiding step for the new way of working together with the design sprint studio &friends.

In an increasingly fast-moving market close forms of collaboration and agile working methods become a sought-after success recipe for saving resources and cutting time-to-market. The communication industry's classic, silo-based way of working between supplier and customer has played out its role and traditional agencies are being forced into virtual U-turns in their working models. The digital full-service agency Maverick is part of the consulting company Sigma IT and has since the beginning been working according to the flexible, customer-friendly approach that is often associated with the IT industry. Now they are starting a collaboration with the design sprint studio &friends to further strengthen their business model with Google's own, well-proven catalyst in the front line, the design sprint.

– It is not possible to hold on to old processes when the market is undergoing a transformation, states Henrik Askervi, Business Area Manager at Maverick. We have built our agency on having a close role in our customers' business and this has created confidence where we have been able to develop agile working models to find concrete solutions that quickly create real value in the market. This is a position that we are now further consolidating and therefore it feels extra valuable to collaborate with the dynamic and experienced people at &friends.

The design sprint, which was developed by Google, is today a well-proven work method for quickly and focused, together with the customer, go deep into a problem and reach a solution. The problem-solving method, which is mainly used in IT and product development, deepens the customer relationship and launches projects without spending too much money or resources. The method is based on the fact that the supplier and the customer together for five days are focused on a complex problem, identify and prioritize challenges and then find and create a user-tested solution. The facilitators, trainers and business developers at &friends will now together with Maverick introduce and offer trainings in design sprints, to showcase its value to more industries.

– A really well executed design sprint is fantastic fun to work with, says Christer Hedberg, founder of &friends. To form a customer and supplier team, and within five days turn a complex problem to a set-to-go, user tested prototype – it’s hard to beat! A lot of things in the creative industry is based on guessing and suggestions, which costs a tremendous amount of money and produces a poor effect. The design sprints are the exact opposite!

Instead of endless discussions, they quickly move forward with an engaging and effective method that leads to solutions that can take off directly and really help the end customer. The euphoric feeling of seeing a problem get resolved in just a few days is identical to everyone participating in a design sprint for the first time, according to Christer.

– It feels incredibly exciting to start a collaboration with Maverick, who has the same curiosity, continuous development drive and willingness to change as we have. I am really looking forward to together with Maverick help their customers stay ahead of their transformation journeys, concludes Christer Hedberg.

Henrik Askervi sees the collaboration with &friends as a natural development to further concretize the full-service agency's offer and continue to develop the established expertise in agile working methods.

– Design sprints will now become natural components in our daily lives, says Henrik. Mainly because they quickly take the cap off of guessing games and expensive, time-consuming editing. It's also amazing to see what happens when you release people's time, energy and creative power in this way. I look forward to moving up the sprint's opportunities and bonus effects together with our customers even more now that we get &friends’ energy, skills and strength on board, concludes Henrik Askervi.

Want more information on the sprint collaboration between Maverick and &friends? Contact Henrik Askervi on +46 706 894299 or henrik.askervi@sigma.se

Briefly on Maverick
​Maverick is a digital full-service agency and part of Sigma IT. We are passionate about combining digital and technical excellence with creative communication and creating change with a continuous feeling of wow in Branding, Change, Content and Tech. We are currently 80 colleagues based in Göteborg, Stockholm Malmö and Bangalore.

Briefly on &friends
​&friends is a Gothenburg-based design-sprint studio that delivers efficient and engaging design sprints and workshops around the world. With our broad background and expertise, we create value and real change together with our customers. And we have really fun doing it.

More information
​Beatrice Silow
​Director Communications and Culture, Sigma IT
​beatrice.silow@sigma.se
​+46 703 79 1506